CW: Game History
Please feel free to edit this and add your own stories to it. This is meant to be our communal history. Week 1 Before time and thought and memory there was the ancient progenitor. In him all was balanced, and yet he was impotent, unable to act. With strange aeons, this one crumbled and died, producing the barren world and the first four gods, Zebus, Agni, Leaf, and Pruinus. Zebus and Agni were first born, but Leaf demanded mastery over all. Agni yielded, thinking it a joke, and a misunderstanding between Leaf and Pruinus made the little god think she had as well. But Zebus refused, claiming death was equal to life. Eventually, Leaf attempted to cast him out. He created the guardian angels, to protect life from Zebus' thieving ways. Pruinus sought to turn little Leaf's anger aside, but Zebus meddled again in life, giving guardian angels faces and free will. The first expression of their new will was to execute the god for his transgressions despite the intervention of both Agni and Pruinus. During this time a fifth god arose, Onus, master of stone, created to act as a bridge between Fire and Cold. Onus created the mountain range called the Crown, which Pruinus decked with glaciers. Unbeknownst to all, a sixth god also came into being, Azgo, whose twisted form made him angry against everything. He twisted guardian angels into foul mockeries. The Four-Now-Three parted ways. Agni went east and raised a son to be his ally, Pruinus north where she created a hall in the memory of the gods, and Leaf remained for a moment, to create a garden to commemorate his fallen brother, vow to honor him, and to secure his sword and essence against usurpers. With those in place, Leaf headed west. Sa, lord of promises, awoke from the committment Leaf made there. Marcus, god of order, also awoke, and resolved to order the universe. As the prime gods left, they pulled against the universe, causing an atom at the center to split, producing TASOE in a large explosion. The Ancient Spirits of Evil quickly constructed Artun, god of vanity, to hide behind. Sa convinced Artun to turn angels into humans, and the flower god provided sustinence for them. Week 2 Urru, fast as light, is born and together he and Agni discover that each being, when they look at Artun, sees that which they themselves finds the most beautiful. Elsewhere, Marcus, god of order, seeks out the Sword of Zebus, first from Leaf who refuses to give it to anyone but another elder god, and then Pruinus, who insists that he prove his worth. During this the goddess of ice meets the remnants of the First, who call themselves the Primal Spirits, and associates herself with them. Leaf takes to the world at large to begin fulfilling his promises to his siblings, creating ecosystems in each of the cardinal directions: Arctic in the north, Savannah in the East, and grassy plains in the south. The west is left barren, as he is exhausted form his labors. Meanwhile, also in the south, Thereus raises a great mountain range, riddled with caves, in which he hides and tends to his work. Likewise, fresh from rejection from both Leaf and Pruinus, Marcus raises mountains and a forest in the west, alleviating some of the barrenness there. And overhead, the greatest mystery of all, as an unseen force splits the sun into seven smaller orbs. In the Crown, the Gods are troubled. They all observe the sun being split, and Onus reports the creation of the mountain range to the south. Artun, thinking quickly, is able to divide up the gods, sending each in different directions, and is able to isolate Agni, leading him to a cave where, unbeknownst to the fire god, the master of Artun has metamorphosed into a dark cave. Upon entering the cave, Agni is imprisoned. Umbra, god of darkness, is spawned in the process, and feeling remorse, Artun flees to find help for the fire god. Pruinus, seeks out Leaf and introduces him to the Primal Spirits, before heading further southwest and discovering the Godcrater. Azgo, the Lord of Pain, has been preparing his Craterspawn to attack and overwhelm the creations of those he considers his kin, whom he terms 'Firstborn.' He has even stumbled upon Thereus, and, after convincing him that his father is a captive of Leaf, is given a suit of armor by Thereus. Pruinus and Azgo begin to fight, giving an opportunity for a wayward Agni'Vohda to escape and flee back in the direction of the Eternal Volcano, created by Agni as a home for the Agni'Vohda. As the World grows cold, Sa captures one of the seven smaller suns and raises a series of earthmotes from the Crown to a space near enough for the sun to provide light and heat in its weakened state. Unfortunately, the humans 'saved' in this manner are not well-suited to living that far above ground in small house-sized floating islands. Week 3 Pruinus and Azgo continue to fight, however the conflict awakens Zebus from within his sword. He lends his power to Pruinus, and for a moment, Azgo is at a distinct disadvantage until a dark counterpart to Zebus is born: Altruis, Lord of Undeath! Soon, the conflict between Azgo and Pruinus takes a backseat to the conflict between Death and Undeath. Zebus is cast from his sword and returns to the world of the living, and is eventually forced to retreat with Pruinus. Azgo and Altruis form an uneasy alliance. Elsewhere, Gods begin to arrive at the Cave of TASOE independently of one another. Leaf and Artun are the first to arrive, and, like Agni, both are captured by the cave. High above the Crown, Urru attempts to aid the humans living within the Crown by reigniting one of the suns. This gives Agni a trickle of power, and he manages to get a signal to the Agni'Vohda regarding his location. In retaliation, TASOE strikes back, plunging all but one sun to earth, burying them: 1) in the icy north 2) in the heart of the eternal volcano 3) Inside the Godcrater 4) Deep in the ocean 5) Lost in a cave in the southern mountains 6) Igniting a firestorm in the western forests and buried beneath the earth. Onus arrives and attempts to rescue Agni and Leaf by ripping open the earth, which only releases TASOE's new form, a massive walking behemoth the size of a mountain. It casts Onus aside, and skewers Marcus with a thousand spines thrown from its back. The battle between the gods allows the Agni'Vohda time to climb up the sides of the beast and eventually catch the ooze which serves to protect it on fire. The landscape is transformed into a nightmare of burning ooze and choking smoke, but the heat revives Agni, who escapes with Leaf and throws TASOE to the heavens as a burning mountain to replace the suns that had been thrown to earth. Agni then collects a wounded Artun, and finds Marcus near death. As the surviving Gods gather, none are aware that the Leaf which Agni saved was infact Seg, another servant of TASOE, while the real Leaf has been forced to descend to mortal form. While the battle raged, in the Crown Sa claims magic for its own, and sets ground rules for its useage: 1) Every use of magic is powered by an amount of "Mana" directly proprotional to the strength of the task 2) Every being with a soul has a maximum amount of "Mana" from which they can cast spells. This replenishes rapidly over time, and most beings can regenerate the entirety of their mana within an hour. Angels, with two souls, can hold particularly large amounts of mana. 3) Arcane magic, such as sorcery, ust have its cost in mana 'paid' upfront. If a creature cannot generate enough mana to fully 'fund' a cast spell, the deficit must be accounted for, which usually means the destruction of the caster at a molecular level. This is often irreversable, and often leads to a violent explosion. In response, the Primal Spirits link with humans to provide their own sort of magic, where the Spirits act as a conduit, providing the mana themselves for the humans to use. Far to the south, Thereus creates dwarves in the southern mountains. And as the dust settles, Azgo begins his invasion. Week 4 Pruinus and Altruis square off against one another, leading Pruinus to call forth the Horned Knight, a mighty Primal Spirit, to defend against him. In response, Altruis calls forth nightwalkers from the earth and leaves to find Azgo and Pruinus counters with the creation of the Anima Guard, a group of amazingly strong mortal warriors opposed to Altruis (and Azgo, by association). Marcus dies of his wounds, and his soul is claimed by Zebus. Seg and Agni fight about several things, most notably Artun, who is still Agni's prisoner, but also regarding Agni's failed attempts at saving Marcus. Angry, Agni storms away, dragging Artun with him. Seg leaves the Blasted Lands and finds Pruinus, but is recieved coldly when he attempts to pass himself off as a new god of healing. He eventually concocts a story about how Agni had killed Leaf and was a danger to himself and others. The God is perhaps right, as at that very moment, Agni is breaking Artun, stripping the God of his ability to see himself as beautiful. Artun goes mad with anger and revulsion and attacks Agni, who abandons him on the cliffs of the Southern Shore. Also happening at this time, TASOE flees the burning sun and moves into the deep oceans, creating an ecosystem there, and Sa grants psionic magics to the humans living in the earthmotes. Meanwhile, the war rages on on multiple fronts as Azgo drives his followers forward, creating the Remorhaz to assist them in their war of conquest. In the North, the Remorhaz stalk the fleeing humans as Brother Branch, the avatar of Leaf, leads them into the frozen wilderness as Onus creates giants to fight the Craterspawn menace. In the Crown, the city of Avarom comes under siege by Craterspawn, but the city is contested after Cumbrous, exarch of Onus, who, after castigating Thereus for not involving himself in the struggles of the world, personally travels to Avarom, where he is joined by the Anima Guard to attempt to push out the Craterspawn horde. At the Eternal Volcano, the Agni'Vohda return to their home to find the Craterspawn attacking those they had left behind. A protracted battle begins, tipped in favor of the Agni'Vohda by the creation of Red Dragons by the fallen sun (other suns may also bring forth dragons if appropriate conditions laying on the orb are met). However, the victory is short lived after Azgo, noticing the new development, reaches out and corrupts Scorch, the Agni'Vohda who first met the Craterspawn, turning him into his own exarch, who turns the battle the other way. And at the GodCrater itself, a flight of Guardian Angels enters the home of the Craterspawn to do battle. In the midst of this fighting, a new god of many names appears and strikes decidedly at the craterspawn in all arenas of the war, pushing them all temporarially backwards. The God follows the fleeing Ka'Vah (the deformed Scorch) to Azgo. The two gods begin to discuss possible alliances, although Azgo seems disinclined to join forces with a newcomer. Instead, he whips the Craterspawn to new frenzy, and the war reaches its climax as Craterspawn without number push their way towards total domination. In this time of darkness, Zebus summons the First Gods to meet and beat back the invasion. Pruinus, Agni, Urru and Seg appear near Zebus, and they begin to discuss a solution... Week 5 Seg, god of lies, joined the meeting of Zebus, Agni, Pruinus (and Urru), though the paranoia of the other gods quickly drove him away. While gods talked, mortals acted. The long ages spent in the north had transformed once-refugees into the arctic elves, who swept south and destroyed much of Azgo's invading army. Humans, dwarves, and others destroyed the foul creatures in Avarom, and the Eternal Volcano took care of the rest. Nix, uplifted animals, appeared and dealt with any stragglers. At Zebus's behest, the first gods, minus dead Leaf, destroyed much of the world. Agni caused the hidden suns to explode, nearly eradicating people still weak from their desperate victory. Zebus shed crocodile tears on the world, killing even more, and Pruinus set winter upon the world, althogh kinder than her kin, she also sent aid to mortals to help them resist the cold. The arctic elves, their attention caught, sought out the sun in the north. Artun sought it as well, and there created White Dragons, legless flying wyrms that hated Agni as much as he did. In the godcrater, an unseen presence tried to form an alliance with Azgo, while an exarch of Order in the form of Veros appeared to do the same. The unseen presence whispered wise counsel in Azgo's ears and the liar was eventually driven away. Meanwhile, the solar explosion had caught Azgo's attention, and he used the sun to enhance his exarch, the Eclipse Aflame. This accidentally created black dragons in the process. Among the skymotes, where Seg had retreated after Agni demanded he leave, the god of "healing" (that is, lies) encountered Sa, who asked him many questions. During this encounter, mortals learned shadow magic and revenants were created. With the world ruined, Zebus and Agni sought out Azgo. Week 6 Zebus and Agni travel to the GodCrater and begin to fight Azgo, Altruis and Ka'Vah. Azgo and Zebus split off to fight one another as Altruis and Ka'Vah both attempt to stop Agni. Agni wonders at the mental health of Azgo and attempts to steal Ka'Vah from his services. Veros splits off the redwood forests from time, causing it to exist in both a destroyed and living state. He also moves some humans there. The Nix retreat into the Crown and begin to rebuild there after their devastation at Agni's hand. Throughout the world, an anti-Gods cult begins to emerge, angry at the... really bad timing that the Firstborn had. A new form of... divine... not-magic emerges from those humans saved by Veros. Deception magic to quite literally force things to exist that are not true. They are the Vikari. Long-term practice of this magic leads to fractures in the background reality of the world. Pruinus brings forth a deep winter to put out the flames that Agni spread over the world, driving the Agni'Vohda into the depths of the Eternal Volcano and into retirement. The flames die out, and Winter Berries to sustain mortals and allow them to thrive in winter spread throughout the world. Leaf/BB forms itself into a great storm that sweeps over the world, bringing rain to the world, helping to heal the wounded planet'.' Seg and Sa continue to converse. Eventually, Sa finds Seg's repeated repetitions that he is God of Healing to be suspicious. The Agni'Vohda develop a hatred of Pruinus and her minions. The refugees from Sil Arkoth migrate to the surface Azer emerge from the lava pit that was Sil Arkoth. A massive Mangrove tree appears in the southern ocean. The elves recover the far northern sun. Veros nukes the entire Vikari people in a fit of pique, and ensures that no other God may interact with it until the destruction is finished. Ka'Vah betrays Azgo and joins Agni. Zebus and Azgo begin to fight in Azgo's throne room. Week 7-9 The battle to banish Azgo from the world ends as Zebus manages to pin Azgo to his throne and then causes the entire GodCrater to be riven from the world into its own plane. Zebus, Agni and Ka'Vah barely escape. Azgo, finding himself trapped, reaches out in the world. There, he finds, to his immense pleasure, worshipers. He leads them westward, where he wills a new continent to rise from the ocean depths. Meanwhile, as Ka'Vah and Agni discuss the terms of their new relationship, Zebus retires from the world for a time, giving Life the upper hand for a time. The spirit of Leaf acts on this shift, nourishing life throughout the world and spreading the biomes on the main continent further than ever. The long winter ends as Pruinus withdraws the icy storms from the world. As the snows retreat, the mortals of the world begin to become active once more. Deep inside the crown, the Nix gather together to determine whether they should return to the outside world. Meanwhile, heading towards the crown, the refugees of Sil Arkosh encounter several different forms of dragons, each which have differing views as to their 'craterspawn-edness.' Far to the south, a massive Mangrove tree sprouts and is colonized by refugee humans who eventually shrink and become halflings. The halflings flourish, learning to harvest silk and build mighty ships. With the end of winter, a warm, moist wind flows over the world, developing into a great stormcloud. Within the stormcloud, a new God, Lenauti, appears! She explores the world for a time until she is drawn to where Agni has been experimenting with creating underwater hotsprings. Agni and Lenauti enter into a debate regarding the nature of the world... and eventually try to intimidate one another through the creation of new elementals. Pruinus observes the Nix for a time, then spreads magical metals of Mithril and Glaciril through the world before turning her attention to the skymotes. Here, Skylander culture has flourished, and large structures have been built on the skymotes. Azure dragons are born from the only sun that remains in the sky, now ensconced deep within a shrine built by the skylanders. Deep below, the Azer work to rebuild a new Sil Arkosh, but are met with disaster as a quake plunges the underground sun which had destroyed Sil Arkosh the first time into the magma pit, where it interacts with the bones of the many dead Craterspawn to create not only friendly Orange Dragons, but also all numbers of evil Slaadi, who pour from the pit to overtake the Azer. One of the Azer sets out to the surface to find someone who knows more about the suns. Meanwhile, on the surface, a number of arctic elves attempt to determine a means to return their sun to the heavens. In the magma fields west of the Eternal Volcano, a race of insects, the Chitrachs are born. They go to greet their neighbors, the humans, but discover that they cannot understand one another. That is, until magic allows them the opportunity! Things seem to go well, but then a strange being emerges among them. An Antiphon, a creature that subsists on fighting and dissent. For the forces of Evil are still at work. From the Mountainous-Sun form of TASOE drops a large egg that pulses with malevolent life. Meanwhile, TASOE reaches out and insinuates himself into the minds of several Gods who had been previously wounded by the Spirits. Seg creates a mysterious artifact that has the capability to absorb AP from the Gods themselves, and Altruis has found Azgo deep within the planar prison that was once the Godcrater. But hope is not all lost. As Sa builds a planar portal between this world and the Elsewhere, the Hero of Ages, Timmy Bushytail, is born. Week 10 Altruis comes upon Azgo in the Abyss, and is induced to take the sword of Zebus from Altruis' body. He does so, wounding himself as Azgo is freed and begins to heal. As Altruis leaves, Azgo bides his time, healing his wounds before eventually stepping forth into the world in a weakened form... some part of him remains tied to the Abyss itself. As Brother Branch creates more creatures (orcs, this time) in an attempt to be noticed by the other Gods, his halflings are beset by 'refugees' who are in truth secret cultists of Azgo. They begin to kidnap and kill halflings before leaving again in a fleet of stolen ships. Meanwhile, another band of cultists makes their way to Avarom. What will they find there? New bonds are formed between the mortal races: The Azer make contact with the elves of the Northern Wastes, the Humans and Chitrachs soon realize that they are being manipulated, and kill the monster that is twisting their words, and the Red and Black dragons begin to call a dragonsmoot. Meanwhile, Agni creates a portal to the plane of fire at the core of the world to show Leni that he is truly dominant over her. Seg puts the essences of the three GodMonsters into the heart of the stillborn God, making them 'immortal' until 'the Gods join together.' And Pruinus' evolution begins to take hold, but in an unexpected way. Individuals are able to evolve over the course of a single lifespan. Some come to call this process 'leveling up.' Week 11 Giroth the Azer arrives in the north and is brought before the rulers of the elves at their court before the Midnight Sun. The elves agree to help the Azer, and begin preparations to head south. To the south, the meeting between the Chitrachs and the Humans finally ends peacefully, as they come to a cautious agreement of future discussion and friendship. As the Chitrachs leave, they come upon Marcus, and invite him to visit their nest. He accepts. On the oceans to the west, the followers of Azgo sail across the seemingly endless ocean, sustained by the blessings of Azgo. Unfortunately, they are the first to experience the power of the star Wormwood, which reanimates the dead. In their wake, the Halflings develop a revered school of medicine. The Black dragons call a Moot, which entails killing a young black dragon. Morenth, the emmissary from the Red dragons nearly leaves, appalled at the needless death. The Mootstone calls not only the black dragons, but also a nearby Azure and Orange dragon as well. To the east, a tribe of Orcs, blessed by Agni with power and supernaturally powerful hunting animals, begins to unite the tribes beneath them, while the Nix begin to trade on a massive scale with the other races, using their link to nature to gain large stockpiles of animal and scavengable resources. All is not well for the Nix, however, as Ka'Vah destroys the hometown of Timmy Bushytail for... the fun of it. Timmy takes the death of everyone he loves and everything he cares about... about as well as one might expect. Far above the world, Azgo and Sa meet. Sa is intrigued by the myriad broken promises that surround Azgo. Azgo, meanwhile, wants knowledge of what has happened since he was imprisoned. And once more, a doom stalks the land. The Godbeasts rouse from their slumber/hiding/egg. The Behemoth falls from the skies onto the Beacon-sun, destroying the sanctuary temple before swallowing the Beacon itself. The Egg breaks open and a massive bird-beast, the Zizu, appears and takes wing. And in the oceans, the Leviathan rises from the depths. Week 12 The Godmonsters are clearly heading for the suns, replacing them one by one with red, pulsing orbs of Evil. The Zizu and Leviathan encounter little resistance, the former destroying a large portion of the Mangrove Tree of the halflings, while the Leviathan floods Sil Arkosh, 'solving' the problem of the rampaging Slaadi. The Azer are barely able to escape destruction by sealing off a portion of their city using new Pyromancy magics. The Leviathan leaves a frozen lake when it leaves, the Azer trapped at the bottom. Seg approaches the sun buried in the western fields. Only at the Eternal Volcano is the Behemoth stalled by the arrival of Agni. The God and God-monster fight, and Agni is nearly destroyed as the Behemoth rips apart reality itself around the God. This causes Agni to merge with nearly identical versions of himself from other parallel timelines, as well as turning Agni into a diamond. As a consequence, Agni now speaks in a cacophany of different tongues. Eventually, Agni, aided by Ka'Vah and Branch, fight the Behemoth to a standstill, and are eventually pulled away by a new form of Leaf: Father Thorn, leaving a heavily wounded Behemoth to manipulate the sun within the Eternal Volcano as the landscape groans in the aftermath of the battle. Elsewhere, the Moot begins and moments after it does, the Behemoth swallows the sun. The Black dragons panic and splinter into factions. Seeking to keep the meeting from devolving into complete chaos, Morenth and Cantorix make impassioned speeches and Morenth spills her blood on the Mootstone. Sa and Azgo negotiate for Sa's support of Azgo's eventual plans to defeat the firstborn, but eventually part ways, no bargain having been struck. However, Sa is given the rare gift of safe passage across the Abyss, which grows darker and more malevolent as it fills with evil souls. Azgo, tired from his extended journey, returns to it to brood and recover.